Throwback Tuesday: A Busy Week of Firsts

 Originally published August 4, 2013 when my boys were 5, 7, & 9.

We had a very busy week this week.  It was full of "firsts" too!  Evan's first Lego Camp, our first day out on the ocean, Evan's first time cooking, etc.  

All three of the boys were signed up for a Lego Camp at a local school and had so much fun learning about gears, motors, remote controls and all things Lego.  

This was Evan's first time and all the boys had so much fun and made new friends (and even have a play date lined up already for next week!).  They were all so sad to see it end.  

They made all sorts of cars, gondolas, and buildings.  

Evan had a bit of a hard time some days, he's still hesitant to speak up when he needs help.  He often complained of not being able to open his snack or not being able to find the Lego pieces he needed.  I kept encouraging him to speak up for himself but I think that's something that will only be gained over time as his confidence continues to grow.  He's already shown such remarkable improvement his past year and I was so proud of how well he did at camp this week. 

Evan's inchworm car

Alec's inchworm car

Alec with his new friend posing in front of the Lego tower the class built

This has been an exciting week of many firsts for Evan.  He played Monopoly with his brothers and father this week and WON!

It's the first time he's cared enough to last through a whole game and learned a lot about numbers in the process.  He read the rent due on his properties and was even able to tell us if he owned that property or not (so a bit of reading was going on too).  He started counting out some money and recognizing dollar amounts, but he still needs a lot of help.  He added up the dice on each throw too.

Evan decided to cook his own lunch one day this week.  He pulled the step stool over to the counter and cooked his own chicken nuggets.  He was able to tell me where it says "bake" on the toaster oven and set it to the right time and temperature.  He even used a pot holder to remove the hot pan too.

Evan cooking his lunch

 

While swimming in the lake he started practicing headstands and flips in the water.  He even spent an entire afternoon swimming out beyond where he could touch and swimming back to shore.  He managed to get just a bit further each time and he was so proud of himself.

I was proud watching how determined he was and how cautious.  If he started getting tired he would immediately turn around and head back, take a small break, and try again.

Evan also started doing some simple division this week.  Not that he had any idea he was dividing, but he went through all the numbers from 1- 9 telling me if they were odd and even while using his fingers to show me what groups they would be made into.  "6 is even because if you divided it into two you'd have three and three, but 7 is odd because one person would have three and the other person would have 4!"

We all had an exciting "first" this week.

My father called and invited us all out for a day on his boat.

While we have been on many different types of boats, this is the first time we've spent an entire day out on a big boat on the ocean.  My father lives on a river just off the ocean and while we spent most of the time on the river it was our first time being around that area.

Before we even left the little inlet we saw a crane, a crab, a heron, ducks and seagulls.  Alec pointed out swans and cormorants to us as we were gliding along.  He told us that the cormorants often spread out their wings to let them dry before taking flight.

 We saw barges, buildings, submarines and ferries.  We saw light houses, forts, and a swing bridge (that was open to allow ships through!).

We went under a drawbridge and looked up to see how high it could be raised on the cables to allow the tall ships through.   We checked out the dry docks and saw a few that were in use.

We anchored for a bit and the kids all went swimming in the salt water, even diving to the bottom to pull up some oyster shells to take home.   As we motored along the boys got some history lessons from their grandparents about the area and learned about new improvements being made.  They familiarized themselves with the boat checking out everything! 


Setting sail

the biggest ship we saw



cormorants all clustered together

the drawbridge we went under



the submarine Nautilus

The "jet" ferry as Evan kept referring to it



Large cranes along the river that impressed Ian the most



a boat in dry dock



Best view is in front!


 The swing bridge is open today



The lighthouse

Checking out the beds down below